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"Make women safer" - Norris campaign

Posted on 26 April 2004

Steve Norris has launched a seven-point plan aimed at making women feel safer on the streets of London. When elected Mayor in the June 10 election, the Conservative candidate would introduce teams of security officers to guard Tube trains and buses after 10 pm, would clean up stations and introduce more CCTV cameras and special "panic-buttons", and would crackdown hard on illegal mini-cab drivers.

His proposals also include expanding transport police units in the capital, promoting a high profile self-protection awareness campaign, encouraging retailers to locate their premises near isolated stations, and seeking to "design out" crime opportunities with better lighting schemes and other initiatives.

Seizing on a special report drawn up by his Women's Taskforce on Crime, Mr Norris declared: "Of course crime affects every person in the capital regardless of sex, race or background. But there are particular types of crime that affects women and I am determined to take action to tackle these crimes.

"No woman should feel afraid to walk home from the Tube or worry for their safety whilst jogging early in the morning. The Mayor has a vital role to play - and a budget in delivering a safer city."

Angie Bray, the Conservative Greater London Authority Member who sat on the task force along with party leader's wife Sandra Howard, and Holborn and St Pancras candidate Margot James, commented: "We have come up with a range of imaginative, practical ideas that could make a real difference on the ground. Over the past four years, Ken Livingstone has been the invisible mayor on crime. This is the most important issue facing women in London and they want a Mayor who is prepared to take action."

Opinion polls show that women feel less safe since Ken Livingstone came to office, and more than half rate a reduction in crime as the priority issue for the Mayor